Substitute and Strangle? How the Catholic Church Shaped State Formation.

Substitute and Strangle? How the Catholic Church shaped state formation.

Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University

European states since the early modern era developed at distinct rates. The two standard explanations focus on the exigencies of war making and trade. But another powerful actor existed: the Roman Catholic Church. And here, how did the religious provision of education, health care, poverty programs, and defense influence the secular state formation? I argue that the struggles between church and state were critical to the latter’s development, and where they were not resolved, the church in effect smothered the nascent state.